Saving Grace
by reallycorkingtoseeyou
Summary: Little Gracie Winchester never had it easy growing up. After her mother's unexplained death when she was little, her family is set in a downwards spiral of pain and mystery, until it ends up broken and separate. After running away, Grace hasn't hasn't heard from her family in years, until her two brothers appear one night, informing her that their father is missing.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1;

The room was spinning quickly and vigorously, and Grace Winchester felt she was about to be sick. Still, she couldn't find it in her to move from her bed. She swallowed with difficulty, a strange fuzzy feeling overcoming her. Slipping in and out of dreams, Grace wasn't sure whether she was awake or not.

 _"Take your brother outside as fast as you can!" her father yelled, shoving Sammy into Dean's arms. Grace, barley able to walk, couldn't understand what was happening. She was woken to the sounds of screams, and left her room to find an orange glow spilling out from her baby brother's room into the halls._

 _"Don't look back!" her dad ordered. The urgency in his voice startled Grace. Suddenly, she felt she couldn't move._

 _"Go Grace, now!"_

 _Grace forced her feet to start moving and she followed her older brother, tears blurring her vision, chest tightening, heart beating, the roar of the fire blasting in her—_

KNOCK

KNOCK

Grace sat up. The room still spinning, she groggily slipping out of bed and made her way towards the knocking sound, holding on to the walls for support. She opened the door to find an older man, somewhere in his late forties, with a big coat and a hat hiding his face.

"You ready?" Grace asked, leaning against the door frame.

"Yes." The man said in a hushed, shifting his eyes suspiciously. "Lets just get this over with."

Grace laughed at his paranoid behavior. She opened door a little wider, and the man tried to push past her. Grace placed a hand on his large chest, stopping him from entering.

"Forgetting something?" She raised an eyebrow expectantly.

He gave a grunt, reaching into his pockets and taking out a handful of money. He handed it over to a satisfied Grace, who, after counting it, opened the door wider to let him in.

* * *

"I mean, come on. You can't just break in, middle of the night, and expect me to hit the road with you," Sam Winchester reasoned as he followed his brother down his apartment steps. Up until a few minutes ago he was sleeping soundly in bed, that is, until he was woken up by his crazy brother, who broke into his apartment at 2 in the morning.

"You're not hearing me, Sammy. Dad's missing. I need you to help me find him," Dean replied, trying to stay calmer then he felt. This was the first time he'd seen his brother in four years. He wanted to go get Sam and drag his ass back on the road with him since the first day he left. The only thing stopping him was their dad. Now, there was nothing stopping him.

"You remember the poltergeist in Amherst? Or the Devil's Gates in Clifton? He was missing then, too. He's always missing, and he's always fine."

Dean turned around, a serious expression crossing his face.

"Not for this long. Now are you gonna come with me or not?"

"I'm not," Sam stated stubbornly, but Dean wasn't going to take no for an answer. The two brothers continued to squabble, crossing the parking lot they spotted their dad's beloved car. When they got to the car, Sam looked inside and was surprised to find it empty.

"You came alone?" Sam scoffed. "Did you even tell Grace you were coming here?"

Dean's jaw tightened. He dreaded having this conversation with his little brother the minute he decided to come and get him.

"Dad isn't the only reason I came to get you," Dean started. "There's something else."

Sam's eyebrows frown, he nodded, telling his brother to continue.

"It's Gracie's…uh….she's gone," Dean stated heavily.

"By gone you mean…" Sam's voice faded away, almost afraid of the answer.

"I mean she left," Dean specified "She ran away a few nights after you left."

"And you let her?" Sam said, raising his voice slightly.

"What else you I suppose to do, huh? You left and dad…" Dean's voice faded away. Anger for his brother's absence soon faded away when an overwhelming wave of guilt. He had his reasons for letting his sister go, none he was proud enough to admit.

The two brothers stayed quiet for a moment, trying to recompose themselves. Then, Sam spoke.

"I was just going to college," Sam rasped. "It was Dad who said if I was gonna go I should stay gone."

"Yeah well, it doesn't matter right now." Dean raised his head to make eye contact with his brother. "I'm going to get my dad and sister back. You in?"

He let her go for this long, it was about time he brought her back.

Sam twitched his lips, thinking of his options for a moment. Dean sensed his hesitation, so he brought up a new angle. He opened the boot of the car and pulled out a folder.

"All right, here we go. So Dad was checking out this two-lane blacktop just outside of Jericho, California. About a month ago, this guy."

Dean shoved one of the papers in Sam's hand.

"They found his car, but he vanished. Completely MIA."

The paper is a printout of an article from the Jericho Herald, headlined "Centennial Highway Disappearance" and dated Sept. 19th 2005; it has a man's picture, captioned "Andrew Carey MISSING". Sam reads it and glances up.

"Maybe he was kidnapped."

Dean gave him a doubtful look.

"Yeah. Well, here's another one in April."

"Another one in December 'oh-four, 'oh-three, 'ninety-eight, 'ninety-two, ten of them over the past twenty years."

Dean snatched back the article and put it can in the folder.

"All men, all the same five-mile stretch of road."

Sam watched his brother unsurely and Dean rummaged in the back of his car.

"It started happening more and more, so Dad went to go dig around. That was about three weeks ago. I hadn't heard from him since, which is bad enough."

Then Dean pulled out a tape recorder.

"Then I get this voicemail yesterday."

He presses play. The recording is staticky and the signal was clearly breaking up. Their dad's voice came through the rough recording.

"Dean...something big is starting to happen...I need to try and figure out what's going on. It may... Be very careful, Dean. We're all in danger."

"You know there's EVP on that?" Sam observed.

Dean smiled.

"Not bad, Sammy. Kinda like riding a bike, isn't it?"

Sam shook his head and gave Dean an annoyed look. Dean ignored it.

"All right. I slowed the message down, I ran it through a gold wave, took out the hiss, and this is what I got."

He pressed play again. A woman's voice came through the recorder.

"I can never go home..."

Dean pressed stop.

"Never go home." Sam repeated.

Dean dropped the recorder back into the truck, then closed it. He looked at his brother with a pointed look.

"You know, in almost four years I've never bothered you, never asked you for a thing."

Sam, seeming unhappy about the situation, sighed and looked back.

"All right. I'll go." Sam said hesitantly. Dean grinned wildly and clapped him on the back. They turned back to Sam's apartment.

"Atta boy. C'mon, get your things, then we can hit the road."

"Whoa, whoa. Hold up man," Sam said, turning to face Dean.

"What?" Dean asked impatiently.

"Promise me we'll be back first thing Monday."

Dean made a face.

"What's first thing Monday?"

"I have an interview…for a law school."

Dean smirked and started snickering.

"Look-it's my entire future on a plate." Sam sighed. "I need to be back, ok?"

Dean exhaled deeply from his nose, not happy about the situation, but agreed anyway.

"Ok fine, back by Monday, got it."

* * *

Grace set up her Ouija board on a small table in the middle of the room, as Fred sat in front of it, watching skeptically. There was another knock at the door, making the older man jump.

"Relax," Grace assured him calmly, letting a young man into the room. "It's just my assistant."

"You didn't say anything about an-"

"Stuff it, mate," the younger man replied, English accent very apparent. "You wouldn't be here if you weren't desperate."

Fred swallowed his words.

Grace finished setting up, lighting her last candle.

"Rupert, the lights."

Rupert nodded, flipping the switch, a few candles being their only source of light. Grace sat down on the chair facing Fred, while Rupert hung back in the corner.

"Is the lighting really necessary?" Fred asked, a slight quiver in his voice.

"Just setting the mood," Grace chirped. She then cleared her throat and placed her hand lightly over the planchette, then encouraged Fred to do the same.

"Are there any spirits that what to reach out to us?" Grace called out.

Nothing happened.

Fred let out a scoff, and began to withdraw his hand from the planchette, but before he could, it slowly began to move towards the yes.

"What's your name?" Grace continued to ask.

The planchette began to fly between the letters, seeming almost sure of itself.

J-I-M-M-Y

Fred let out a gasp, face gone completely white.

"Jimmy," he choked out.

"Jimmy." Grace repeated. "Wasn't there a James Turner who recently went missing?"

Fred was taken aback.

"Y-yes," he stuttered out. "But it's gotta be some sort'a conscience!"

The planchette moved again, towards the no. Grace continued.

"Jimmy, how did you die?"

M-U-R-D-E-R

Murder.

Fred's breathing became uneven, he completely pulled away.

"I've had enough," he stated, "I want my money back!"

"Just one more question." Grace said calmly.

"Are you going to hell, Fred?"

Suddenly the planchette started flying around the board wildly, before flipping off the table and out of Grace's hand.

Fred's eyes widened, jaw dropping as he struggled to breathe properly.

"Wha-"

"You murdered Jimmy out of drunken rage," Grace stated, raising herself off her chair. "Then dumped his body in the swamp."

Grace pulled out a knife and jabbed it straight into Fred's hand, causing him to howl in pain. Grace leaned forward so Fred could see her through his tear-filled eyes.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't let Jimmy rip you apart?" Grace said menacingly, her calm nature seeming to have disappeared. Fred, taken aback and in pain, cried out.

"Please!" he blubbered, "Please, I'll do whatever you want!"

"Well," Grace yanked the knife out of Fred's hand, making him yelp. "That's an easy one. There're two ways this can be resolved. One; he kills you."

Fred whippers.

"Or, you hand yourself in, bring closure to the family. One or the other, your choice."

Fred nodded frantically, clutching his bleeding hand to his chest. Rupert, finally growing bored, unlocked the door and let the sobbing mess out. When he closed it again, he turns round to find Grace counting their makings. Rupert clapped sarcastically.

"Well done on that performance," he commended, brow raised. "How did you make the planchette flip its shit out like that without you touching it?"

Grace held up a small magnet in the palm of her hand, a sheepish smile on her face. Rupert hummed in approval.

"What I don't understand," Rupert continued, "is why you didn't burn the body. Jail can't keep him safe from a homicidal ghost."

"There was no ghost," Grace said, not looking up from the money. "There was no proof that Jimmy's spirit didn't move on."

"Then what made Fred think otherwise?"

"The mind of a paranoid bastard and a little encouragement." Grace finally looked up at the young man, a confident smile forming on her lips.

* * *

Jessica Moore, commonly known as Jess, was the love of Sam's life. They met one another through their mutual friend Brady, and Sam was sure when he said that it was the best moment in his short lived life. They were the couple that everyone wanted to be. A perfectly imperfect couple you'd see in the movies. Sure, they had their fights, what normal couple didn't. But at the end of the day that didn't matter. He loved her, so much that he was going to ask her to marry him.

Which is why it made it so much worse when he saw her pinned up to the ceiling like that, blood gushing out from her stomach, a look of betrayal on her face because he left her. He caused this.

Sam could do nothing more than watch his beloved burn.

And then he left.

Hesitantly, he left the only home he's ever had, that he built with her, to go find the monster that did this. He and his brother left on the open road, with hardly anything but the clothes on their backs.

Sam hadn't slept for days, he's been running on nothing but coffee and pure revenge.

Two Saturdays after the incident the brothers were found residing in a dingy motel room. Sam sat in the dimly lit room, his face illuminated by the light of his laptop. He typed manically, trying to search for any sign of their mystery monster. The only problem was, he didn't know what to look out for.

As he was tapping away on his keyboard, Dean, who was trying to get some sleep, made his way over to his brother and blocked the screen with his large hand.

"Stop," he said, slightly irritated. "You've been sitting on that thing for days, when was the last time you got some sleep, huh?"

"Can't sleep," Sam said monotonously. Dean sighed and guided Sam out of his chair to one of the beds. Sam didn't fight back, he didn't seem to think it was worth the effort. Dean laid him down on the bed and covered him with a blanket.

"Dean," Sam complained meekly. "Have to work."

"You can work tomorrow." Dean said. "Just do us both a favour a get some rest, ok?"

Sam replied with a mumble that Dean couldn't quite make out. Soon Sam's breathing went heavy and his features softened. It was only until Dean was sure his brother was asleep did he sit down in front of Sam's laptop.

He began his search for his little sister. It only took him a bit over an hour to find her, she was never very good at hiding her tracks. She been traveling around Mexico, so naturally her checked the coastline, Grace always loved the beach. His hunch was right, he managed to catch her trail in Colima. From there she's been moving more and more into the centre, from what he could see, Grace had settled into a small town in Mexico City, for now at least.

A smug smile plastered his face.

"Gotcha," he mumbled under his breath.

* * *

A few hours passed and Dean was still awake. The excitement of finding his sister kept him up, but he didn't have the heart to wake up Sam, especially after everything that happened. He sat on Sam's laptop, keeping himself entertained until sunrise. But he didn't have much longer to wait.

Sam started twisting and turning in his sleep, jolting in panic. Dean rushed over to his brother's side, shaking him awake.

"Hey, it's just a dream!" he pressed, trying to reassure that everything was okay. "Sammy, wake up, it's just a dream!"

Sam's eye's snapped open, then turned to Dean wildly.

"We gotta go." Sam said with urgency. "It's going to happen again, we gotta go."

Dean squinted through the dark, then turned on the lights to get a better look at his brother. Sam was on high alert, eyes wide and hands twitching.

"Woah man, just calm down." Dean tried to sit Sam down but he wouldn't let him.

"I can't, Dean!" Sam snapped, then collapsed on the bed with his face in his hand. Dean waited for Sam to tell him what's going on.

"Grace is in trouble," Sam finally said. With those words, Dean was more awake than ever.

"What? How do you know?" Dean asked, the only thing on his mind was leaving at that point.

"I saw her, on the ceiling."

"C'mon Sam, it was just a dream."

Sam hesitated.

"I got this feeling, I don't know, it's weird."

"What, you're some kind of physic now?"

"What? Dean no, it's just-" Sam struggled to explain. "Look, we gotta go, Grace is in trouble, trust me on this."

Dean sighed.

"Okay man, but you got some explaining to do."

Sam nodded, jaw clenched tight. The two brothers began to pack quickly. Sam went to get his open laptop, but he looked at the screen and stopped, turning to his brother with an unamused expression.

"Dude, were you using my laptop?"

Dean looked back to see Sam's laptop in his brother's hand, screen facing him. Busty Asian Beauties glowed on the screen.

* * *

Grace heaved her shovel through the ground, hitting a solid base and sighing in relief. After prying the lid off the coffin, revealing the bones of Esmerelda Williams, Grace climbed out the grave and poured salt and gas over the body. Then, she whipped out a lighter from her back pocket and set the body aflame.

"Hasta la vista, baby," Grace said under her breath as she watch the flames engulf the rotting remains of Esmerelda.

After the flames died out, Grace collected her things and walked out of the graveyard like it was just another Tuesday. She walked along the dark backstreets of the city as it was the quickest way to get home. Usually calm and collected, Grace could walk these alleys with ease, but today she felt apprehensive, so she followed the main road. All the streetlights were turned off, except for the one closest to her apartment block. As Grace passed it began to flicker on and off. Grace's uneasiness grew.

Grace jogged up the old rusting stairs to her apartment. She went to put her key in the lock, but found that the door was open, left slightly ajar. Grace took a step back, analysing her options for a moment, before sliding a knife out of her boot and quietly entering the dark, tiny house. She let her eyes adjust to the poor lighting before scanning her surroundings. She heard movement to her far left. She could barely make out the pattern of a tall figure. Clutching her knife tighter, Grace slowly approached her burglar, ready to attack. Grace pulled back her knife to strike, but someone grabbed her by the waist from behind, causing her to drop the knife, and tackled her down to the floor. There was a scuffle as Grace struggled to gain the upper hand.

Then the lights came on, Grace found herself pinned to the ground. Her hands wrapped around her older brother's neck.

 _"Dean!?"_

Dean gave her a wide grin, not loosening his grip from her shoulders.

"Hiya, princess." Dean said, with a smug look on his face. "Aren't you a little outta practice?"

Grace grunted at his weight, but Dean stayed in place, making sure she suffered for a bit longer.

"C'mon Dean, get off her." Her younger brother's voice came out of nowhere. Soon Sam came into vision. Sam looked down at her with his same old puppy dog eyes, his shaggy hair falling in front of them.

"Sammy?" Grace muttered softly. Sam smiled and nodded. Dean got up and peeled her off the floor. He was then greeted by a bone crushing hug, Then Grace turned to Sam and did the same. She allowed a single tear to spill down her cheek before wiping it away.

"You make terrible burglars." Grace croaked.

Her brothers shared a look between them and chuckled.

"Amazing." Dean said sarcastically. "You haven't seen either of us in four years, and that's all you have to say to us?"

"And you both look like shit, too." Grace joked, trying to constrain more tears from falling.

"Yeah, well," Sam said, going in for another hug "Have you looked in the mirror lately?"

Grace found herself smiling at that. She dug her head into her younger brother's chest, before turning to Dean, arm still around Sam, and beckoned him over.

"oh no, no chick-flick moments." He said, but with engorgement from both his siblings, he put his arms around them anyway, embracing them as tightly as he could in fear of losing them again. For a moment it almost felt like everything was completely fine, everything was okay in the Winchester world. They were together, and happy about it. That moment was short lived.

They parted.

"What're you guys doing here?" Grace asked.

"We're here to rescue you." Dean teased, a goofy smile in his face.

"From what?" Grace asked, knitting her eyebrows together.

"Ask Sam." Dean said, turning to his brother with a conceited look on his face. Sam sent him a glare.

"Look, all that matters is she's safe, okay?" He turned to Grace. "We gotta talk."

Grace raised an eyebrow.

"Go on."

Sam eyed his surroundings suspiciously.

"Not here."

* * *

The three Winchesters sat at the booth in the furthest corner of the first fast food joint they found. Grace munched on her overcooked chicken burger while her brothers explained what's been going on in the past few weeks.

"So you haven't heard from dad _once_?" Grace asked in a hushed tone.

"You know how dad is." Sam sighed, poking his fork in his salad.

"But he did leave us _this_." Dean pulled out their father's journal and passed it to her. Grace's eye widened in surprise. This journal was one of her father's most personal possessions. None of the siblings were allowed to look or touch it, until now. Grace's fingers brushed against the rough texture of the old leather bound book.

"How do you know he isn't dead?" Grace asked.

"We don't." Sam stated with a grim expression. Dean slapped him at the back of his head.

"Yeah we do." He said, snatching the journal from Grace's hands. He pulled out a map and pointed to an X marking 35-111.

"We're thinking this is where he wants us to go." Dean said, tapping at the X.

"You know what they say, X marks the spot." Grace remarked, twitching her lip slightly.

"So you in?" Dean asked.

Grace stared at her brother with her mouth slightly ajar, not knowing how to respond. Yes, she had missed her brothers dearly after she left, but that didn't mean she wanted to jump the gun and hit the road with them again.

"Just until we find dad and get some answers." Sam jumped in, seeming to have sensed her hesitation. Grace swallowed, then cautiously nodded.

"Okay." She agreed. "So, where do the coordinates lead?"

Sam and Dean passed each other a look.

"What?"

"That's another thing." Sam said. "The coordinates he left us, Blackwater Ridge,"

"There's nothing there." Dean finished for him.

Grace squinted her eyes.

"What do you mean, 'nothing there'?"

"There's nothing there." Sam repeated, putting the map down between them. "It's just woods."

Grace looked down at the map, then when she saw her brothers were right, looked up.

"Why is he sending us to the middle of nowhere?"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

The three Winchesters made it to Blackwater Ridge a few days after Grace had joined them. The novelty factor of their reunion was short lived. After days being stuck in a car with each other, the three siblings have grown tired and slightly irritable of each other. Little arguments have broken out between them on several occasions, mostly about stupid things such as Dean's loud music, Sam's gassiness or Grace's snoring.

The more time she spent cramped up in a small space with Sam, the more her hostility grew towards him. Her resentment she felt towards her brothers absent finally came out after four year of burying it deep inside. She had no idea where it came from or that she even had this hidden bitterness for her youngest brother. So she did what any Winchester would do. Repress it.

They parked the Impala out in front of the ranger station, and stepped out of the car, observing their surroundings. The leaves under Grace's boot gave a satisfying crunch, the wind sent chills through her tights.

"Okay, so me and Dean are going to check inside." Sam said, pointing to the ranger station. "You'll be ok checking out here?"

"In other words, you want me to sit back and wait in the car?" Grace said cynically, crossing her arm.

"What, no I-" Sam sighed in frustration. "Look I don't know what your problem is but-"

"Hey, c'mon guys." Dean intervened "one problem at a time."

Sam and Grace held their hard glare for a few more seconds before breaking it.

"Fine." Grace said. "I'll stay here."

Her two brother walked into the station. Grace took this time to pull out a cigarette and light it up. She took a long drag and held her head back as she exhaled, her muscles relaxing. Just as he began to relax a little, her cell phone began buzzing in her jacket pocket. She looked down at the caller id and her heart sunk. Oh shit.

Hesitantly, she answered, and was soon greeted by shouting.

"Where the hell are you!?" Rupert's voice came through the other line.

"Look, before you get angry-" Grace tried to explain, but Rupert cut her off.

"Angry? Why would I be angry!?" He yelled through the phone. "It's not like you left in the middle of a case without any sort of warning! Oh wait a minute, yes you did!"

Grace winced at his hash tone. She didn't try speaking again because she knew Rupert wasn't done ranting yet.

"Do you have any idea how worried I was!? Why haven't you been answering your phone!? I thought something happened to you! Do you have any idea-"

Rupert stopped and took a deep breath. Grace took this chance to explain herself.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? Something came up and I had to leave. I'm fine, there's nothing to worry about, it's just family drama."

"Family? Since when were they back in the picture?"

For two years after she left, Rupert was the closest thing to family Grace had. They met in Indiana while Rupert was working on a witch hunt. Being new to the game, Grace offered to help him out. She took him under her wing after that and became hunting partners. Grace felt a responsibility over Rupert, him only being a few years younger than her youngest brother. She realised that leaving him may have not been the best idea, but right now her brothers, no matter how much they annoyed her, needed her more.

"Something big is happening, Ru." Grace tried to explain as vaguely as possible. "My dad's found a lead on something nasty. I gotta find him."

She saw her brothers exist the ranger station. Grace dropped her cigarette and stomped it out.

"I'll explain later, I gotta go."

"Grace wai-"

She hung up.

Grace wasn't happy about the situation. She knew if anything happened to Rupert while she was gone, it'd be her fault, but she knew right now the best place to be right now was with her brothers.

Dean looked very satisfied about something, looking down at a piece of paper and laughing.

"What, are you cruising for a hookup or something?" Sam asked sarcastically.

"What do you mean?"

"The coordinates point to Blackwater Ridge, so what are we waiting for?" Sam said, clearly annoyed. "Let's just go find Dad. I mean, why even talk to this girl?"

"What's going on?" Grace asked.

"Dean wants to side track to go talk to this girl." Sam said intolerantly.

"What, why?" Grace asked, scrunching her face up. "We got the coordinates, why don't we just go?"

Dean stops by the Impala, giving his siblings a pointed look.

"Don't you think we should know what we're walking into before we actually walk into it?"

Sam and Grace shared a look, before shaking their head at Dean.

"Well I'm the oldest, so you do whatever I say." Dean decided. "We're going."

"Since when are you all shoot first ask questions later, anyway?" Dean asked, almost cockily.

"Since now." Sam replied.

Grace scoffed and rolled her eye.

"That's a new one." She commented.

Sam slammed the car door shut and moodily crossed his arms, waiting for Dean to start up the car. Grace slipped into the car. She could almost feel Sam glare at her through the mirror. Dean started up the car, before driving away from the ranger's station.

* * *

The Impala pulled up a rather average looking neighbourhood and stopped at the house that matched the address on the permit. Grace hopped out of the car first and made her way to the back and popped the hood. Hidden amongst the vast collection of guns and other weaponry was a tin filled with fake Ids. Grace rummaged through them.

"What are we today?" She asked Sam as he came up to her and dug through his own IDs.

"Park rangers." He replied, holding up his own badge. Grace nodded and found the one she was looking for.

With fake IDs ready in pocket, the three Winchesters walked up to the Collins household.

"Let me do the talking," Dean said. "I'm smooth with the ladies."

"No way man." Sam argued, "We don't have time for flirting, let me take the lead."

"If anything, I should go first." Grace intruded. "She's not going to feel comfortable with you two creeps pounding at her door."

"Ok, how 'bout we settle this the good old fashioned way?" Sam suggested.

"Age before ugly?" Dean proposed, causing Grace to smack him on the arm.

"How 'bout ladies first, dick,"

"In your dreams." Sam said sarcastically. "Try Rock, Paper Scissors."

So the three, as if children, clapped their fist on their palm tree times before shooting. As usual, Dean shot scissors. Predicting this, both Sam and Grace shot rock. Dean grunted in defeat and watched Grace and Sam go up against each other. Grace shot rock. Sam shot paper. Sam gave a triumph smile.

Sam stepped forward and rang the doorbell. Soon an attractive young lady opened the door. Dean's eyes lit up.

"Hi-"

"You must be Haley Collins." Dean interrupts, pushing Sam out of the way, who sends a glare his way.

"Dick." Sam coughed, but Dean ignored him.

"I'm Dean, this is Sam and Grace, we're, ah, we're rangers with the Park Service. Ranger Wilkinson sent us over. He wanted us to ask a few questions about your brother Tommy."

Haley hesitates slightly.

"Lemme see some ID."

Dean sends a smirk to his siblings before pulling out his fake ID and pressing it against the screen, Sam and Grace follow suit. Haley inspects them closely, before opening the door wider.

"Come on in." She said.

Haley led the three Winchesters into her house, where a younger boy sat on the table.

"This is my younger brother, Ben." She introduced and she passed. "Ben, these are the park rangers, they're here to talk about Tommy."

Ben glanced at the three an inspected them one by one, then he scoffed.

"You don't look like park rangers to me." He said. Dean raised his brow.

"Oh really, cause you look exactly like a snot-nosed teenager to me." He replied.

"Hey! Play nice, you two." Haley called from the kitchen.

"So if Tommy's not due back for a while, how do you know something's wrong?" Sam asked, turning back to the subject in hand. Haley walked back into the room carry bowls of food, she sets them down on the table and looks up at him.

"He checks in every day by cell. He emails, photos, stupid little videos—we haven't heard anything in over three days now."

"Maybe he can't get cell reception." Grace replies in a calm matter.

Haley shook her head.

"He's got a satellite phone, too."

"Could it be he's just having fun and forgot to check in?" Dean shrugged. A clanking of cutlery came from the table, Ben looked up, clearly upset.

"He wouldn't do that." He stated.

Dean gives Ben an odd look, trying to figure out what this kid's problem was. Ben looked away.

"Our parents are gone." Haley explained "It's just my two brothers and me. We all keep pretty close tabs on each other."

Grace nodded, Understanding the situation completely.

"Well we're here to help," Grace replied, "So if we could see some of the photos he sent you, that'd really help."

Haley nodded and pulled out her laptop to reveal multiple pictures of a young man who genuinely look like he was having fun of his camping trip.

"That's Tommy." Haley said. She clicked through some more pictures and the three Winchesters observed. Haley then stopped at a video and played it.

"Hey Haley, day six, we're still out near Blackwater Ridge. We're fine, keeping safe, so don't worry, okay? Talk to you tomorrow."

Sam notices something flicker in the background.

"Well, we'll find your brother." Dean said. "We're heading out to Blackwater Ridge first thing."

"Then maybe I'll see you there." Haley replied. The three Winchesters shared a confused look. Haley spotted it.

"Look, I can't sit around here anymore. So I hired a guy. I'm heading out in the morning, and I'm gonna find Tommy myself."

Grace nodded, and gave a reassuring smile.

"See you tomorrow then."

"Hey, do you mind forwarding these to me?" Sam asked, still focused on the flicker he saw in the video.

"Sure." Haley nodded.

After that, the Winchesters thanked both Haley and Ben and left the house feeling rather satisfied with their find. The rest of the day was spent researching Blackwater Bridge, and what they found was pretty interesting. So, Blackwater Ridge didn't get a lot of traffic other than local campers. Yet, two hikers went missing out there this year alone. They were never found. Before that, eight different people went missing in '82. Before that '59, and another in '36. Every twenty-three years. All claimed to be grizzly attracts.

If that wasn't weird enough, Sam found a shadow in the background of Tommy's video. It could only be seen in three frames, meaning whatever they're dealing with was fast.

There was one lead to go on. Apparently in 'fifty-nine one camper survived this supposed grizzly attack. Just a kid. Barely crawled out of the woods alive.

So the three Winchesters made it to their last stop of the night. Mr Shaw was hesitant to talk, but with a little persuasion, he let them in.

"Look, ranger, I don't know why you're asking me about this. It's public record. I was a kid. My parents got mauled by a—"

"Grizzly?" Sam interrupts. "That's what attacked them?"

Shaw takes a puff of his cigarette, hesitates, then nods.

"The other people that went missing that year, those bear attacks too?" Dean asked.

Shaw didn't respond.

"What about all the people that went missing this year? Same thing?"

Another pause. Grace decided to speak up.

"Mr Shaw, if we knew what we were dealing with, maybe we'll be able to stop it."

"I don't think so, young lady." The old man said doubtfully "Anyways, I don't see what difference it would make."

He sits down.

"You wouldn't believe me. Nobody ever did."

"Try us." Grace responded, making Shaw looked up at her with a puzzled expression.

Sam sat down across from Shaw.

"Mr. Shaw, what did you see?"

Mr Shaw described a monster of a creature that was fast on its feet and good at hiding. Apparently it unlocked the door to their cabin and dragged Shaw's parents into the woods, leaving him with gashing scars across his chest. Shaw described the creature to be so sort of demon. The Winchesters knew that that statement was false. Demons don't need to unlock door, meaning whatever they're dealing with was corporeal. They suspected it to be a skinwalker or a black dog. Whatever it was, they could kill it.

Grace rummaged through the back of the boot, preparing her weapons for the next day, Sam walked up next to her and leaned in.

"Look, you shouldn't have told that Haley girl to come along." Sam said. "It's not safe out there."

"I didn't tell her to come along." Grace said through her teeth. "She came to that decision by herself."

"Well we can't let that happen." Sam hissed. Grace looked up, shooting an annoyed look at her brother.

"What am I supposed to do about it Sam? Her brother's missing, she's not gonna just sit this out." She said roughly, then mumbled;

"God knows I wouldn't."

Sam slams the weapons box shut, then the trunk.

"Was that supposed to be some sort of stab or something?" Sam asked, raising he voice. "If you have something to say to me, just go ahead and say it!"

Grace was quick to jump the gun.

"Okay, fine! Where do I begin? You left your family to because you're ashamed of us, leaving us in shatters! Then, surprise, surprise, your past catches up to you, and your perfect apple pie life comes crashing down! Now all you do is mope around and criticize us because you don't want to admit that this is all your fault!"

Silence fell over the two siblings. Sam's face showed that he was deeply offended. Grace knew she had crossed the line. She opened her mouth to apologise, but Sam fired back angrily.

"Oh yeah? At least you guys knew where I was, you left without a word! You keep sprouting this 'family should stick together' bullshit when you were the one to abandon her family! If anyone's ashamed of their family it's you!"

"Don't-" Grace shouted, then realised how loud she was being so toned it down to a harsh whisper. "Don't you dare think, even for a second, that I wanted to leave!"

"Come on then, tell me." Sam prompted harshly. "Why did you leave?"

Grace inhaled sharply, narrowing her eyes. She could feel her blood boil, any thoughts of apologising to Sam were now long forgotten. She was done.

"You know what," She said, "Forget it. See you in the morning."

And like that Grace turned away, leaving her younger brother alone with the Impala.

* * *

Sunrise came, and Sam and Grace were still barley talking to each other. The three Winchesters headed out first thing, hoping to catch the Collin's before they entered the monster infested woods. Luckily they caught them just before they were about to head out. Dean parked in front of them, all fully equipped with backpacks and shot guns, and the three got out of the car.

"You guys got room for three more?" Dean said inappropriately cheerfully.

"Wait, you want to come with us?" Haley asked in disbelief.

"Who are these guys?" their guide asked, eyeing them up suspiciously as Sam passed him.

"Apparently this is all the park service could muster up for the search and rescue." Haley said, shaking her head at them.

"You're rangers?" The guide asked with a scoff.

"That's right." Dean stated.

"And you're hiking out in biker boots and jeans?"

Dean looked down at himself.

"Well, sweetheart, I don't do shorts."

Dean walks ahead past Haley. Grace follows suit. Ben caught a glimpse of Grace as she walked past and gave a scoffs.

"What kind of ranger goes hiking in a mini-skirt?" Ben asked sarcastically. Grace looked down at her flannel shirt and denim skirt, then gave him a smirk.

"At least I've got the legs to pull it off." She replies, holding her duffle bag over her shoulders. "Now, are we gonna just stand here and ask questions or are we going to head out?"

"I have one," The guide spoke up. "You think this is funny?"

The three Winchesters gave him a curious look. The guide continued.

"It's dangerous back country out there. Their brother might be hurt."

Grace raised a brow.

"And you are?"

"Names Roy," He said, adjusting his shotgun on his shoulders. "I've been hunting in these areas since I was a kid."

"Good," Grace replied simply, "You might come in handy then."

Grace gingerly patted Roy on the shoulder as she marched past. Roy looked like he was about to say something, but seemed to have swallowed it. Dean followed, trying to hide his snickers, making Roy seem more annoyed. Finally all six of them headed out into the thick woods, unsure of what awaited them.

* * *

The group had been walking for over two hours. Roy and Dean fought for dominance the moment they had left, and were now leading the group. Sam and Haley made up the middle and Ben and Grace were at the rear.

Despite her rugged upbringing, Grace was never the one to 'rough it', the closest thing to doing so was campout in the car. She struggled behind, mumbling complaints she thought went unnoticed. Her tights got caught on a twig, causing them to tear.

"Shit." She mumbled, crouching over to try and save them.

"Do you really think I'm that stupid?" Grace looked up to find Ben standing over with a sceptical expression.

"You're not a ranger." He continued. "So what're you doing out here?"

Grace sighed and stood up straight. She let the group walk ahead before she began explaining.

"Look, Sam and Dean are my brothers," She said "We're out here looking for our dad. He's been missing for a while. There's a chance he might be here."

Ben nodded, seeming to understand the situation.

"Why didn't you tell us that from the beginning?" He asked.

"Would your sister really have let a bunch of strangers into your house?" Grace scoffed, raising a brow. Ben laughed and shook his head, seeing Grace's point.

"I figured we could help each other out, ya know?" Grace continued.

"How can you help?" Ben scoffed, looking at her petite form.

Grace smirked.

"Oh trust me, sweetheart, when all goes south you'd be thankful to have me around"

Ben gave her a questioning look, but Grace didn't elaborate. She pushed on forward to catch up to the rest of the group leaving Ben to ponder on her vague response.

The group walked for an hour more before coming to a stop.

"This is it." Roy said, gesturing to the clear patch in front of them.

"Blackwater Ridge."

Sam heads past Roy, observing his surroundings.

"What coordinates are we at?"

Roy pulls out his GPS.

"Thirty-five and minus one-eleven."

Those were the same coordinates their father had left on the map. Grace walked up next to Sam, trying to look for any sign that her father was here. But there was nothing. No clues, no identification that he was there. Nothing.

A sense of realisation sunk in her stomach like a heavy stone. He wasn't here. He never was.

She felt Dean walk up next to her, but she didn't bother to see if he came to the same realisation.

"You hear that?" He asks.

"No." Grace replied, frowning deeply. Dean caught her eye.

"Exactly."

Grace re-examined her surroundings. Dean was right, there wasn't a sound. Not even a cricket. The eerie silence seemed almost unnatural. It felt like someone was watching them.

"I'm gonna go take a look around." Roy announced, parting himself from the group.

"You shouldn't go off by yourself." Sam warned, clearly sensing the danger as well.

"That's sweet." Roy scoffed "Don't worry about me."

Roy waved his gun and pushed between Sam and Grace, retaking the lead. Dean sent him a glare and waited for the other two to catch up.

"All right, everybody stays together." He instructed "Let's go."

After half an hour of staying close and huddling together, the group found the campsite. Ben and Haley scuttle around the area in a panic, trying to find any signs that their brother was still alive. Sam and Grace tried to keep them a bay while Dean looked around for clues.

"Sam! Grace!"

The two siblings followed their older brother's calling and found him crouched down on the ground a bit outside the campsite. They bend down next to him.

"See that?" Dean asked pointing at a track presumably left by the attacker.

"The bodies were dragged." Grace confirmed.

"Yeah. But the weird thing is, here they just vanish."

And he was right, the track marks suddenly disappear halfway into the woods. But that didn't make any sense, if it was a black dog or a skinwalker they'd leave evidence that they where there, and where they're hiding. Meaning the Winchesters were dealing with something else. Something told Grace that they weren't nearly as prepared as they originally thought.

The three siblings went back to the campsite. Haley rummaged through the remaining scraps of the campers supplies, a sense of grief washed over her face. Ben hovered above her awkwardly, unsure of what to do in this extreme situation. Grace walked up behind him and placed a soft hand on his shoulder.

"He's dead, isn't he?" He said numbly, not even turning around to meet her eye.

"You don't know that." Grace replied. This time Ben did turn around, a flicker of hope lit in his eyes.

Then suddenly a voice came calling through the thick trees.

"Help! Help!"

Roy is the first to react, taking hold of his rifle, taking the lead as everyone runs to the aid of the shouter. They run through the uneven woods as the voice kept calling.

"Help! Somebody!"

Pushing past bushes and branches the group ran towards the caller. Until the calling suddenly stopped.

"It seemed like it was coming from here, didn't it?" Haley asked.

But there was no one.

Grace strained her ears to spot any signs of sound.

But there was none.

A sudden horrific realisation spread across Sam's face.

"Everybody back to camp" He orders, a certain urgency to his tone.

They all jog back to camp. When they arrived, they discovered all their supplies were missing. Grace realised why Sam was so desperate to get them all back. This thing, whatever it was, is trying to isolate them. It's cutting us off from the outside world so it can pick them off, one by one. Whatever was out there was a lot worse than the siblings thought.

Sam takes Grace and Dean aside.

"I need to talk to you guys. In private."

The three walked away from the group.

"Good." Sam said, feeling comfortable with the distance. "Let me see dad's journal."

Dean nodded and pulled out the journal from his jacket. Sam flipped through the pages until he find the page he was looking for.

"All right, check that out." Sam turn the page towards them so they could see.

"Wendigo." Grace read, her eyes lifting up in surprise.

Wendigo's are cannibalistic monster who, you guessed it, lives off human flesh. They're over a hundred years old, once a human who was forced into cannibalism to survive the harsh winters. As many cultures all over the world believed that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities. If you eat enough of it, over years, you become this less-than-human thing. They're the perfect hunters, their fast, strong and worst of all extremely clever. You don't stand much of a chance if you're unprepared.

"Oh come on, wendigos are in the Minnesota woods or, or northern Michigan. " Dean said, frowning his brow in doubt "I've never even heard of one this far west."

"Think about it, Dean, the claws, the way it can mimic a human voice."

Grace nodded.

"You know, I hate to agree, but I think Sammy's right on this one."

Dean looked between them, reading their serious expressions, before letting out a sigh.

"Great." Dean said, pulling out his pistol. "Well then this is useless."

Sam hands back John's journal to Dean.

"We gotta get these people to safety." He said, before turning to Grace and giving her a pointed look. "Got it?"

Grace rolled her eyes and sent Sam a glare.

"Aye Aye, captain." She replied bitterly.

They make their way back to the campsite, Sam addresses the group.

"All right, listen up, it's time to go." He ordered. "Things have gotten...more complicated."

"What?" Haley looks between the Winchesters unsurely, trying to read their expressions.

"Kid, don't worry. Whatever's out there, I think I can handle it." Roy said, his rifle gripped tightly in his hands.

"It's not me I'm worried about" Sam responded, his voice staying calm and technical. "If you shoot this thing, you're just gonna make it mad. We have to leave. Now."

"One, you're talking nonsense. Two, you're in no position to give anybody orders." While Sam was keeping his cool, Roy was beginning to lose his.

"Relax." Dean called, seeing that Roy was about to blow his top.

"We never should have let you come out here in the first place, all right? I'm trying to protect you."

Roy stepped into Sam's space.

"You protect me?" Roy yelled in Sam's face, his pride close to being damaged "I was hunting these woods when your mommy was still kissing you goodnight."

"Hey, man!" Grace intervened, pushing herself between Sam and Roy. "We're trying to get your sorry ass outta here alive. You have no idea what this thing's capable of."

Grace could tell she wasn't being taken seriously. She could feel her patients lacking.

"So sit the fuck down and do as you're told for once in your sorry life!"

Roy laughs in her face.

"You must be crazy to think I'm going to listen to a little girl like you."

Patients gone.

"Well maybe you'll listen to this."

Before her brothers even knew what was going on, Grace hit Roy square in the jaw. Dean was the first to react, pushed her away to avoid the scuffle.

"Chill out!" He said, putting her a safe distance away from Roy.

"Stop. Stop it. Everybody just stop." Haley said, pushing Roy back from going at Grace. "Look. Tommy might still be alive. And I'm not leaving here without him."

There was a long pause. The Winchesters looked between themselves trying to figure out what do now. They knew there was no chance that ether Haley or Ben were going to leave now. Dean let out a sigh.

"It's getting late. This thing is a good hunter in the day, but an unbelievable hunter at night. We'll never beat it, not in the dark."

Dean took a long pause. Fear spread across the Collins faces.

"We need to settle in and protect ourselves."

* * *

Night time fell and the group huddled together trying to build a fire, while Dean and Grace stood on the opposite sides of the campsite drawing Anasazi symbols in the dirt. The Wendigo can't cross over it.

Grace was finishing up on the symbols when she realised Sam was in the corner on his own. Her first instinct was to see what was bothering him, but then she remembered she wasn't on the best of terms with her younger brother.

Now all the anger and hostility she put towards Sam seemed like a flimsy excuse to who she was really angry at. Herself. Sam was right, she did leave. She left her father and brother worried for years, neither of them knowing what happened to her or if she was even alive. She's been blaming Sam all this time, but really, she knew she was the one to blame.

Grace knew that she'd have to apologise to Sam sooner rather than later, so she carefully approached her brother and sat across him. Sam slowly lifted his head, his tired eyes told Grace he was done with the fighting.

"Hey," She started off lamely, not sure exactly what she was going to say to her brother.

"Hey," Sam repeated half-heartedly.

"What you doing, pouty-mic-pout-pout?" Grace asked, receiving a small smile from Sam. This smile disappeared as suddenly as it came.

"You think this is all my fault, don't you?" He asked sullenly, his pained expression surprising Grace greatly.

"What? Sam no, of course not. It's just-" Grace struggled to explain herself. "I only said that because I was mad. I didn't mean any of it. It's just with dad missing and-"

Grace took a deep breath, being to feel a bit overwhelmed. Talking about her feelings was never one of her strong points. She exhaled heavily.

"I don't blame you. For _any_ of this." She stressed. "And I'm sorry for the things I said the other day."

Sam looked down at the ground and nodded.

"Yeah. I'm sorry too."

There was a pause. The two siblings weren't sure how to continue from there. So Grace slipped her hand into Sam's and rested her head on his shoulder showing that she was done with the fighting too.

Rustling came from behind them as someone approached. Dean's face popped out of the darkness, and smile on his face from seeing that his two younger siblings had made up.

"Hey, if we're having a family moment, count me in." He said brightly, sitting down across the two.

"So, what's up?" Dean asked as soon as he settled. A frown twitched on Grace's face.

"Dean, dad isn't here." She said softly, a lump forming in her throat. "Honestly, I don't think he ever was."

Dean sighed.

"Yeah you're probably right."

Sam shifted, pulling away from Grace. He turned away slightly from his siblings.

"What's going through that freaky head of yours?" Dean asked, gently nudging at his knee.

"I just don't understand, what're we still doing here? Why don't we just get these people outta here and hit the road?" Sam asked, frustrated.

"You know we can't do that." Grace replied. "Not with that thing out there. If we leave now, people will die."

"But why is that always our problem?" Sam questioned.

Grace looked over at Dean, unsure of what to say. Dean gave her a reassuring nod, before pulling out their father's journal, and holding it up in front of them.

"You see this? This is Dad's single most valuable possession, everything he knows about every evil thing is in here. And he's passed it on to us." Dean said this with such pride and confidence, it sounded like he didn't have a doubt in the world. "I think he wants us to pick up where he left off. You know, saving people, hunting things. The family business."

"Well said." Grace joked, earning a chuckle from Dean. But Sam stayed straight faced. He shook his head, covering his eyes with his hand as if he was trying to think.

"That makes no sense. Why doesn't he just—call us? Why doesn't he—tell us what he wants, tell us where he is?" Sam asked desperately. Grace snorted.

"When has dad ever made it that easy for us?"

There was a pause.

"Look, the way I see it, Dad's giving us a job to do, and I intend to do it." Dean said determinedly.

"Me too." Grace said without hesitation.

"No. I gotta find Dad. I gotta find Jessica's killer." Sam paused for a moment, his eye glassy. "It's the only thing I can think about."

"It's okay, Sam, we'll find them, I promise. But right now dad want's us here." Grace said, rubbing arm in an attempt to comfort him.

"Yeah man, and all that anger, you can't keep it burning over the long haul, both of you." Dean said, now addressing Grace as well this time "It'll kill you. You gotta have patience."

Grace nodded, knowing that he was right. She's pint up a lot of anger over the years, from her father, from her situation, and mostly from herself. She could feel it burning inside her, just wanting revenge for all that she's been through.

Sam shakes his head, and looked up at them with broken eyes.

"How do you guys do it? How does Dad do it?"

Grace was struck by this question. How did she do it? How could she handle it, day after day? The killing, the moving and the loneliness? Grace turned to look at Haley and Ben huddled up together in front of the fire and Grace's features started to soften.

"That's why." She said, gesturing towards the two siblings. "If we can stop a family from becoming as screwed up as us, I say that's a major win."

"Well said." Dean smiles.

"I'll tell you what else helps." Grace continued.

Her brothers look up at her curiously, waiting for the answer.

"Killing as many evil sons of bitches as I possibly can."

The three siblings chuckled.

Then, there was a crack behind them.

"Help me! Please!"

The Winchesters shot up, hands placed over guns.

"Help!"

It was the Wendigo, it's trying to draw them out. Sam shines the flashlight around trying to spot it, Dean tells everyone to stay put.

"Help! Help me!" The cries continued, then formed into an eerie growl. Roy points his gun at the sound, seeming to realise that they were in real danger.

"Okay, that's no grizzly." He said.

"Thank you, Capitan obvious!" Grace snapped at him.

From the corner of her eye Grace could see Ben was breathing unevenly. His legs failed him and he collapsed on the ground, Haley first to react by catching him.

"It's okay. You'll be alright, I promise."

Grace rushed over to his side. Ben was breathing with difficulty, he was shaking uncontrollably, the panic attack hitting him hard.

"Hey hey, kid, look at me." Grace said in a hushed tone, holding on to his shoulders to keep his attention on her. "Listen, as long as we stay here we're fine. Just keep breathing and you'll be fine."

Grace repeated the soothing words as the wendigo circled them. Roy shot at the rustling, and then again. There was some sort of whimper.

"I hit it!" Roy called, then ran off to see what he hit.

"Roy, no!" Dean yelled after him "Roy!"

In the panic, Dean turns back.

"Don't move!" He said before turning to Grace "Make sure they stay here!"

Grace nodded, her hands still gripping onto Ben shoulders. Then she watched her two brothers run into unprotected grounds. She turned back to calming down both Ben and Haley. After a while the noises stopped, an eerie silence coming over the forest. Soon Sam and Dean came back, Roy didn't survive the night.

* * *

 **Hey guys, sorry for taking so long to update, but I've been aways from the internet for a couple weeks. All feedback is welcome and encourage. For any extra info please check out my blog here.**

 **Until next time.**

 **Tammy.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

"Yeah, they're letting Tommy out today, so it'd be nice to have him home. But it'll take a while for any of us to get over this, still a little shook up, you know?"

"Yeah, kinda hard to get over something like that." Grace said, balancing her phone between her ear and her shoulder. She was out on a beer run when Ben, from a wendigo case a few weeks back, called to update them on his brother's recovery.

"Oh, and Haley asked how Dean's doing." Ben said dryly.

"Of course she did." Grace laughed. "We're _all_ doing fine, thanks."

"It's nice you called though, most people don't want to have anything to do with us." She said casually, taking out her money to pay for her items. Ben gave a nervous laugh.

"Yeah, well, it's not exactly a good sign when you knock on our door."

"touche" Grace replied sarcastically.

Ben paused, as though he was thinking of what to say next, before asking;

"Have you found your dad yet?"

Grace hesitated, carefully analysing what she should say next. Their father was alive, but that as far as they knew. He still wasn't answering their calls, but now they were sent strait to voicemail, which was an improvement.

"No, not yet." She said, trying to sound as casual as possible. "But we're close, it's only a matter of days."

"Oh Ok," Ben immediately dropped the subject, seeming to know Grace wasn't going to spare any more information. "Well I got to go, we're gonna pick up Tommy. Take care."

"Yeah you too kid. Keep your nose clean and stay out of trouble, ok?"

Ben laughed on the other line.

"I'll try."

After saying their goodbyes, Grace hung up, payed and collected her things, and left the pit stop. Grace hovered around the area, scrolling aimlessly through her contacts, until she stopped at her father's. She paused, weighing out her options, before hesitantly pressing the call button.

It began to ring. Graces heart began to beat furiously, her anxieties getting the best of her. A waver of hope carried on as the phone rang. And second now he could answer her, tell her he's alright and he wants to see them. Any second now.

It went to voicemail. Disappointment sunk into Grace's stomach like a heavy stone. She should have expected that.

"Hi dad," She said to the answering machine, a false sense of cheeriness in her voice. "Just want to let you know we're okay. Been working the cases you've been sending us. So..um…call me when you get this. Bye Dad."

She pressed end call made it back to the sleek impala parked outside the pit stop. Dean sat in the driver's seat, nodding his head to the beat of the music. When he saw her coming he gave a bright smile.

"Hey, you got my pie?"

Grace rolled her eyes and nodded, shoving the pie through the open window onto Dean's lap. Then she went over to the other side of the car and sat in the shotgun, by this time Dean was already working on opening the packaging. She must have slammed the door too loud, as Dean turned to her with his eyebrow raised.

"What's got you all grumpy?" He asked through a mouthful of pie.

"Nothing." Grace sighed. She looked at the rear view mirrors to find that Sam was absent from where she previous left him.

"Where's the giant?"

"Bathroom." Dean replied, swallowing his mouthful. "I don't think those burritos we had a while back agreed with him."

"Ew." Grace responded, crumpling her noise.

"Hey, check this out," Grace suddenly remembered, taking out the newspaper she had bought. "So, I was looking through it and look what I found."

She passed the paper onto her brother.

"Has Britney Spears had work done?" Dean read, scrunching up his face. "Well if you want my personal opinion-"

"Not that!" Grace said, slapping Dean on the arm as he laughed, trying to hide a smile herself.

"Ok, ok." He laughed off the joke, before turning serious and read the article.

"The Shoemaker family is sad to announce the sudden death of their beloved husband and father Steven Shoemaker. Steven was 46. A short service will be held on Wednesday, 31 at 2:00 p.m. at the Toledo, blah, blah blah, mysterious death, we're there!"

Grace raised an eyebrow at her brother.

"Really? I didn't think you'd go for it so easily."

"If it's strange enough to catch _your_ eye, then it must be something. Plus, this wake thing will probably have food, right?"

"You're an idiot." She said, trying to cover her smile behind her shoulder.

"I know you are but what am I?" Dean mocked in a childish tone, poking at her dimples. Grace swatted him away, but Dean wasn't going to give up without a fight. He kept poking and nudging her until she lost her patience and fought back. After a few hits were exchanged, Dean grew bored, so he then caught in a headlock and noogied her head harshly.

" _Dean stop_!" Grace whined, trying to wriggle out of her brother's grasp, but it was clear he wasn't going to let her go anytime soon.

" _Please!"_ She continued to moan over Dean's laughter.

"Not so tough how, huh bigshot?" Dean teased, holding down a struggling Grace.

The back door of the impala swung open and Sam's head popped into the car, an unamused look on his face.

"Jesus guys, I could hear you from the bathroom!" He said, glaring at his older siblings.

"He started it!" Grace protested making Dean scoff.

"Real mature, what are you, like five?"

"You're the one who-"

"Guys stop!" Sam yelled before collapsing in the back seat, rubbing his eyes tiredly. Dean let Grace go and they shared knowing looks.

For the past few weeks Sam has been haunted by nightmares. He would shift about in his sleep mumbling Jessica's name over and over, until he abruptly shoot up from his slumber, gasping for breath. It's gotten to the point where he would avoid sleeping all together. Grace and Dean agreed on letting Sam take his time over Jessica's death.

"We have a case." Dean stated, throwing the article in Sam's lap. He scanned though the article quickly, try find any signs of anything supernatural.

"That's it?" Sam asked, looking back up at her siblings. "It's not much to go on."

"It's worth checking out." Dean shrugged. "It's not like we have anything better to do."

"Uh, dad?" Sam asked pointedly.

"We don't have any leads on dad." Dean replied. "The best we can do now is keep busy and wait for him to call us."

Sam crossed his arms and huffed, but agreed anyway.

"Fine, let's go."

* * *

The Impala drove up in front of the Shoemaker's house. Just coming from the morgue to examine the body, the Winchesters don't know much about the case except that Mr Shoemaker's eyes practically exploded out of his head. The first thing they noticed when they walked into the memorial service was that they were severely underdressed. Everyone stood around in sleek black suits and neat dresses. Grace looked down at her shorts and brightly coloured tights, suddenly aware how much she stood out.

"Maybe we should go change first?" Grace suggested, closing her jacket to appear smarter.

"You're such a girl." Dean scoffed, flicking her in the ear as he passed. "Come on, let's start asking some questions."

Dean looked around when he came across the buffet table. His eye lit up.

"I'm gonna check over there." He said, heading towards the different finger foods.

Sam eyebrow knitted together in annoyance.

"Dean, don't be rude."

"Yeah Dean, don't be so in-ooh they have shrimp!"

Grace turned to Sam, his eyes full of judgment as he crossed his arms, and gave him a sheepish smile.

"Actually Sammy, he might have a point." Grace said, looking greedily at the food, only now realising how hungry she was "And it look like he could use some back-up."

Sam rolled his eyes as his two older sibling rushed over the buffet like a pair of starved wolves.

A few dozen shrimps later, the Winchesters made their way through the house to the back yard, were they were pointed to Shoemaker's daughters, Donna and Lily, and a few friends. The Winchesters shared a look before approaching the girls.

"You must be Donna, right?" Dean said, taking the lead.

"Yeah." Donna replied unsurely, looking between the siblings.

"Hi," Sam said awkwardly. Grace nudged him slightly to continue. "Uh- we're really sorry."

Grace nodded, putting her best sympathetic face on.

"Yeah, your dad will be missed."

"Thank you." Donna said, giving them a small smile. "How did you know him?"

"Oh sorry, were are my manners. I'm Grace." She introduced, then gestured to her brothers. "This is Sam and Dean."

They both smiled and a nod.

"Yeah, we worked with your dad." Sam continued.

Donna quavers, sharing a look with her friend before turning back to the siblings.

"You did?"

"Yeah. The whole thing." Dean said in an uncharacteristically soft voice. "I mean, a stroke?"

"I don't think she really wants to talk about this right now" Her friend spoke up, putting a supportive hand on Donna's shoulder. But she brushed it off.

"It's okay." She assured with a nod. "I'm okay."

Dean hesitated slightly, trying to thread around the situation carefully.

"Were there any symptoms? Dizziness? Migraines?"

"No." She shook her head.

Then Lily, who from now had remained quiet, turned around and peeped up.

"That's because it wasn't a stroke."

"Lily don't say that." Donna pressed.

"What?" Sam asked, frowning his brows. Grace raised her eyebrows, knowing that Lily might have some important information to give.

"I'm sorry, she's just upset." Donna apologised.

"No, it happened because of me." Lily pressed, almost desperately.

"Sweetie, it didn't." Donna said softly.

"Lily," Sam said kindly, knelling down to her level and giving that sad puppy dog look he always does.

"Why would you say something like that?"

"Right before he died, I said it."

Grace frowned her brow.

"Said what?" She asked making Lily turn her attention to her. Her face was overrun with guilt, as if she actually believed that she caused this. What could this girl possibly have said to have caused a man's death?

"Bloody Mary." She said it as though she was admitting to something horrible.

 _Oh no_ Grace said in her head.

"Three times in the bathroom mirror." She continued.

 _Anything but this._

"She took his eyes, that's what she does." Lily tried to convince them. But Donna still shook her head.

"That's not why Dad died. This isn't your fault."

"I think your sister's right, Lily." Dean assured. "There's no way it could have been Bloody Mary. Your dad didn't say it, did he?"

Donna and her friends shared a look, wondering why he didn't dismiss this theory of Bloody Mary's existence.

"No." Lily admitted. "I don't think so."

After that the three Winchesters excused themselves to investigate the place of death. As they walked back into the house, Dean turned to his sister with a smirk.

"Looks like we could be dealing with an old friend of yours," He said teasingly.

Grace let out a grunt.

Everyone knows the myth of Bloody Mary, even though the origin story varies. As the ledged goes, if Bloody Mary is said three times in a mirror, the spirit of Bloody Mary will appear and violently scratch your eyes out. Grace knew this story well.

Grace was around eight when she heard the legend of Bloody Mary, and she didn't take it lightly. She spent the next couple of months completely avoiding mirrors. She made her father cover all the mirrors with a sheet before she'd walk past it. She wouldn't even go in the bathroom without someone standing right outside the door. Until finally her dad grew tired of his daughter's nonsense. He soon put a stop to this irrational fear.

The Winchesters made their way up to the second floor to find Shoemakers' place of death. Soon they found the bathroom were the body was found. The first thing they noticed when they carefully open the door was the bloodstained floor. Sam and Dean walk in, while Grace stayed in the hallway keeping a lookout.

"The Bloody Mary legend." Sam started, examining his surroundings. "Dad ever find any evidence that it was a real thing?"

"No." Grace stated. "Even looked into it a couple times myself, nothing."

Dean his smile behind his hand, trying to go unnoticed, but when he saw that Grace had caught him, he burst into snickers.

"You're adorable." He said, cracking into a large smile.

"No I'm not." Grace fought back. "I'm terrifying!"

Now it was time for Sam to snicker. True, she's been trained to kill from a very young age, has a vast knowledge of a good amount of weapons, and kick a grown man in the balls hard enough to make him sob, _without hesitation_. So yes, some people might see her as terrifying, but honestly, when Sam looked at his sister, he just saw 5 of pure sarcasm and bad attitude.

Sam shook his head, coming back to the subject at hand. He stooped down and lightly touch the dry blood, then stands back up, brows frowned in thought.

"I mean, everywhere else all over the country, kids will play Bloody Mary, and as far as we know-"

"It's usually harmless." Grace finished.

"Maybe it's only happening here." Dean suggested.

"The place where the legend began?" Sam asked.

Dean shrugged it off and started snooping in the medicine cabinet.

"But according to the legend, the person who says B—"

Sam hesitated, nervously glancing at the mirror that was facing him. Dean noticed this and let out a snort.

"Looks like Grace's rubbing off on you."

"The person who says you know what gets it." Sam continued through gritted teeth, covering the mirror with his big hand, "But here— "

"Shoemaker gets it instead," Dean finished off.

"Yeah that's a little off." Grace said, scratching her head with though. "But the daughter's right, 'you know what' was said, then Shoemaker dies in front of the mirror. Can't be a coincidence."

"Yeah, definitely worth some checking into." Sam nodded.

The clicking sound of heels could be hear coming down the hall. The Winchesters quickly left the bathroom, only to be greeted by Donna's friend Charlie, along with her many questions.

"What are you doing?" She asked. "You're not supposed to be up here."

"We—we, had to go to the bathroom." Dean replied lamely.

"What, all of you?" Charlie asked, unimpressed with the answer. " _Together_?"

"We travel in packs." Grace replied, a hint of sarcasm to her tone. "We're worried one of us might drown in the toilet."

Charlie squinted their eyes at her, not being able to tell if she was being serious or not. Dean rolled his eye, while Sam tried to give her an awkward apologising smile. Charlie shook her head, not letting herself get side-tracked.

"Who are you?"

"Like we said downstairs, we worked with Donna's dad." Dean said, sticking to the pre-planned story they had decided on.

"He was a day trader or something." Charlie informed them "He worked by himself."

"No, I know, I meant—"

"And all those weird questions downstairs, what was that? So you tell me what's going on, or I start screaming."

"Hey, let's just talk about this nice and calmly." Grace said, trying to avoid a scene.

"Great, you talk and I stay calm." Charlie said, sounding more like a threat then an agreement.

"All right, all right." Sam said quickly. "We think something happened to Donna's dad."

"Yeah, a stroke."

"Yeah okay, cause eyeballs explode all the time, right?" Grace said sarcastically.

Charlie struggled to answer back.

"We think it might be something else."

"Like what?"

"Honestly? We don't know yet." Sam answered. "But we don't want it to happen to anyone else. That's the truth."

"So, if you're gonna scream, go ahead." Dean added.

Charlie took a moment to think before, before asking;

"Who are you, cops?"

There was a pause, before Dean spoke again.

"Something like that."

"I'll tell you what. Here." Sam reaches into his pocket, pulled out a paper and pen, and scribbled down his cell number.

"If you think of anything, you or your friends notice anything strange, out of the ordinary...just give us a call."

* * *

Next stop for the Winchesters was the town public library. With the impala parked outside, the three headed straight to the computers, only to find that they were out of order, meaning they had to do their research manually. None of them were happy about it. Grace settled down in the corner, stomach aching from those shrimps earlier on. Sam and Dean brought up a large pile of folders and documents in front of her. Grace groaned at the amount of documents they had to get to.

And the search for their ghost was on.

They must have been there for hours, rummaging through all the records, yet they still haven't found any mirror related deaths that match the profile by the time the library began to close. All they found was a few local women, a Laura and a Catherine, who committed suicide in front of a mirror, an incident involving a giant mirror that fell on a guy named Dave, and a whole new level of frustration. But no Mary. Grace's eyes were blurred by the time they got kicked out.

They staggered back to the car, deciding to continue their research in the motel room. As soon as they walked through the door, a wave of nausea hit Grace like a truck. She rushed to the bathroom and puked up the entire buffet. As she rested her head on the toilet seat, there came a knock on the bathroom door, soon following Dean's voice.

"Everything ok in there."

"Peachy," She answered sarcastically. "I'm never eating seafood again!"

"Is there anything I can do?"

"Pass me some Hyoscine."

Dean cracked the door open slightly, timidly sliding the box into the bathroom. It took a few minutes before the meds kicked in. Grace stayed sat on the floor before she knew her stomach could take any kind of movement. When she finally did stand up, she began stripping off her clothes, before hopping into the shower. Five minute of warm water and inhaling steam later, Grace closed the tap and carefully stepping out.

As she was wrapping herself with a towel she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Suddenly long repressed memories came flooding in her mind.

 _"Dad, let me out!" Grace cried, banging her palms on the bathroom door. "Please!"_

 _"I will let you out when you do as you're told." John hissed at the other side of the door._

 _"She'll kill me!" Grace sobbed in the dark room._

 _"Do as you're told." John repeated harshly. "That's an order, Grace."_

 _Grace turned to face the mirror. Even in the dim lighting she could see her young face_ _stained with tears. She did what her father ordered, she approached the mirror with wobbly legs and stopped right in front of it. With a final whimper, she called out the dreaded words._

 _"Bloody Mary,"_

 _"Bloody Mary,"_

 _Grace let out a great sob, before choking out;_

 _"Bloody Mary."_

 _Grace covered her eyes, not being able to watch what could happen. She waited in that dark room for one minute. Two minutes. Three. Nothing happened. The only thing she saw in the mirror was her own reflection. The door unlocked, Grace burst out of the door, embracing her father for comfort. He wrapped his arms around her, letting his daughter sob of a moment. Before pulling her away and kneeling down to her level._

 _"You're a Winchester, Grace." He reminded her solemnly. "And what have I always told you about Winchesters?"_

 _Grace looked up at her father, a strange empty feeling overcoming her._

 _"Winchesters are never scared._ _"_

The same numbness she felt all those years about came flooding back. Grace looked into her sad, worn out eyes, trying to remember the little girl all those years ago. Then she pulled away, burying the memory ever further into her subconscious.

Grace wrapped the towel tighter against her body, before exiting the bathroom. The first thing that caught her eye when she got in the room was her younger brother sleeping form on one of the beds.

"He fell asleep." Grace said in a surprised tone, drawing Dean's attention away from his documents. "How'd you get him to do that?"

"Ah well, poor tyke was tuckered out." Dean said facetiously. "Fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow."

Grace grabbed a load of clean clothes, before re-entering the bathroom, and came out feeling fresh and clean. On one of the beds Sam started turning in his sleep, mumbling Jessica's name.

"Here we go again."

"This has got to stop." Grace agreed, her face softening at the sight of her little brother in distress.

"Go get a drink," She told Dean, patting him on the shoulder. Dean looked up at her in surprise, his eyes knitting together.

"You sure?"

Grace glanced over at her sleeping brother before turning back to Dean.

"Yeah, go enjoy yourself."

"No need to tell me twice." Dean grinned, grabbing his jacket and slamming the door behind him. Once Dean was out of the room, Grace carefully made her way towards Sam. She put a soft hand on his shoulder.

And right on que, Sam's eyes snap open, his breathing fast and heavy. It wasn't until he saw Grace did he start to calm down.

Sam sighed, closing his eyes while doing so.

"Why'd you let me fall asleep?" He groaned.

"Because you needed it" Grace hushed, softly patting his head comfortingly. "Here, make room."

Sam sat up groggily, allowing Grace to sit next to him. She then gently guided Sam to lie his head on her shoulder and Sam, too tried to question it, allowed her.

"What were you dreaming about?" She asked softly.

"Lollipops and candy canes." Sam mumbled into her shoulder, eyes still closed.

"Whatever you say, Sammy."

"It's Sam," He grumbled back meekly.

Grace chuckled, running her hands gently through Sam hair. She shifted herself so her she could lean her free side on the bed's headboard. Soon Sam was snoring lightly against her.

* * *

Dean raised his key to the motel room a few hours later, coming back from what he felt was a well-deserved break. With a small click, he pushed open the door to be greeted with his two younger siblings leaning against each other, both had fallen asleep. Dean smiled warmly, this scene reminding him of when they were just kids. When they relied and needed each other, when they needed _him_. A large wave of nostalgia overcame him knowing that he finally had his family back.

This warm, gooey moment was cut short when Sam's phone started ringing on the table across the room. Sam and Grace groggily opened their eyes trying to find the source of the noise.

"I got it." Dean called as Sam pushed himself off of Grace, who was being sandwiched between him and the headboard.

"Hello?"

A panicked voice comes through the other end of the phone. Dean's face scrunches up in concern. Sam and Grace pushed themselves off the bed and crowed around Dean, trying to find out what's going on.

"Who is it?"" Grace asked pushing herself as close to the phone as possible.

"Shh, do you mind?" Dean snapped, before turning back to the phone. "Whoa Charlie, calm down. Where are you?"

More frantic murmuring came through the phone. Dean grabbed a pen and paper and scribbled down an address.

"Right. We're on our way."

Dean hung up the phone, turning to his siblings, both anxiously waiting for information.

"C'mon, we got to go."

* * *

There was another killing. One of the girls at the memorial, Jill, was messing around and summoned Bloody Mary as a joke and the results were, well, far from humorous. The Winchester's snuck into Jill's bedroom, with the help of Charlie. With a bit of snooping around, they found the name 'Gary Bryman' on the back of her mirror. With a little digging into they found out Gary was an eight year old boy with was killed by a hit and run two years prior. The car he was hit with was a black Toyota Camry, which just so happened to be the same car Jill drove. The next stop was the Shoemakers house, and again find a name written behind the mirror, 'Linda Shoemaker'. She reportedly overdosed on sleeping pills, and it was marked down as an accident, but the situation still seemed a little sketchy. When questioning this, Shoemaker's daughter became emotional about the subject and promptly kick them out of her house. While all the pieces came together, the siblings _still_ didn't know who they were dealing with.

Feeling as though she'd grow cross eyed if she looked at another document, Grace popped out to get herself and her brothers some breakfast. Grace took a sip of her well-deserved coffee, before recoiling. Ugh, black.

Her phone gave a buzz. Grace set down her coffee, having no intention of drinking it anymore, and pulled out her phone, revelling Dean had sent her a message.

 **Found her. Mary Worthington** , **me and Sam are going to Indiana to check it out. In the meantime, keep a look out for anything suspicious.**

 **-Dean**

Grace sighed, taking a bite of her bagel, wondering what she could do to fill her time. Then, Grace heard the faint ring of a school bell. She looked up at the school across the streets, and say Charlie and Donna walk into the school. This gave Grace an idea.

Ten minutes later, Grace walked through the school halls, wearing a blouse and pencil skirt she 'borrowed' from one of the houses in the area. She found the schools secretary's office, and, trying to look as casual as possible, pushed open the door. As soon as she stepped into the office, she was greeted by a booming voice.

"There you are! You're late." A plummy woman rumbled. "I thought you'd never show up!"

"Uh-sorry?" Grace asked, trying to understand what situation she got herself into this time.

"You are the IT sub, aren't you?"

Grace stared at her with her mouth gaping, before forcing it shut and nodding in agreement.

"Uh, yep that's me!" Grace replied. The older woman shoved a pile of papers into Grace's arms.

"This is the lesson plan. Your first class starts in five minutes. Good luck!"

And just like that, Grace was pushed out of the office. After wondering around the halls for a bit, Grace found the computer room, full of rowdy teenagers. Grace took a deep breath, before cautiously stepping into the classroom. She set her papers on her desk and looked up at the noisy kids, not seeming to have noticed her presents.

"Excuse me." She called, trying to get the classes attention, but with no success.

"Excuse me!" She called louder. Still no reaction.

"EXUSE ME!"

The whole class stop chatting and turned to Grace. Now with their full attention, Grace smiled nervously. She then grabbed the whiteboard marker and scribbled down a fake name.

"H-hello, I'm Miss- erm- Tyler." Grace gave a tight smile. "I'll be teaching you IT today."

The students began mumbling in-between themselves. Grace could feel herself sweat as the pressure hit. She suddenly remembered the documents she was given. She looked through them franticly, picking out a few keywords.

"Right!" Grace said, pulling the document to her face. "Software Design, what's that?"

One of the students shot their hand up.

"Yes you?" Grace pointed out, allowing the student to reply.

"Mr Robert usually lets us eat in class."

Grace blinked at him, trying to find the relevance in this statement.

"Umm…ok go ahead."

Everyone in the class eagerly dived down to get out some form of snack from their bag. Grace opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it.

"So back to my question." Grace continued. "Software Design?"

Another hand shot up, but this time he didn't even wait to be picked out.

"Miss we already did this topic!" He said in an obnoxious tone. Grace pressed her lips together, raising her brow in annoyance.

"The lesson plan says this is the subject for today."

"But we already did it!"

"Well you're doing it again." Grace snapped at him. She let out a sigh as her eye's flickered to the clock. 30 minutes. 30 more minutes before she could get rid of these brats.

"Ok, so I guess the first thing to do is turn on the computers. " Grace said, trying to sound as if she knows what she's doing.

The students obeyed without another word, the room was soon filled with soft hums as the computers turned on. Grace sighed in relief, trying to come up with something that would keep them entertained till the bell ring. But soon, a new problem arose.

"Miss Tyler?" a girl called, raising her hand. "We need the password."

Grace blinked at her.

"The what?"

"The computer's password. We can't get into the computer without it."

"Don't you know it?" Grace asked with her brows frowned, addressing the class. They shook their heads.

 _Shit._

At the far end of the class, Grace could hear the same boy from before snicker, mumbling to his friends.

"Stupid bitch calls herself a teacher. She can't even turn on a computer."

Grace has had enough. She turned to him was a sickeningly sweet smile, ready to bare down on him like a hawk.

"Tell you what…"

"Chad."

"Tell you what, Chad." Grace said, honey coating each word. "How 'bout you come up here for a second."

Chad gave an odd look to his friends, hesitantly sitting up.

"Right." Grace said, placing a hand on Chad's shoulder. "See here, students, this is a classic example of what I call, an ass-hat."

A low rumble of laughter spread through the room. Looks of disbelief spread on the students faces at the notion of a teacher talking this way.

"It's a sad case were the wheel is still turning but the hamster's long dead."

The class giggled again. Chad tried to look cool while trying to hide his red face. Grace turned her full attention to Chad.

"Next time you to insult me to my face," Grace threatens "make sure you're ready to puke your teeth up on the pavement."

A solid silence fell over the class. No one knew what to think or how to react. But they did enjoy seeing Chad practically shitting his pants.

"Now get your sorry ass out of my class."

Chad nodded fiercely, then practically ran out of the classroom. The class remained quiet, scared that Grace might unleash her wrath on them. She turned to the board and rubbed off her name. She then drew various lines and dashes, before turning around and reviling it.

"You guys know how to play hangman?"

* * *

Thought the students were hesitant at first, they eventually got into it. Soon they were full up wars and serious team-ups to try and guess the letters of the word. That is, until the principal came to the class and asked Grace for a word. Even as a teacher, Grace still managed to get called into the principal's office. They had a serious talk about Grace's unconventional teaching methods, saying if it was to happen again she will be asked to leave the premises. All in all, Grace felt quite proud of herself when she walked out of that office.

Now in-between classes, Grace decided to go ahead with the original plan, snooping around and keeping look out for any possible victims. Across the halls Grace spotted Donna and Charlie leaning against the lockers. Charlie looked up to see that Grace was there, and gave her a questioning look. Donna must have noticed Charlie had been distracted, because she followed her glance. Donna's expression turned into a hard glare, before turning back to Charlie and marching into the bathroom.

Grace pushed her way across the halls to the bathrooms, but found it hard as the stream of kids pushed past her. By the time Grace got to the bathroom, she heard Donna call out the 'Bloody Mary'. Grace rushed into the bathroom, but not before Donna chanted out her final 'Bloody Mary'.

"Why would you do that?" Charlie screamed at her, panic washing over her face.

"Oh my God. There really is something wrong with you!" Donna insulted, turning to march off. Grace tried to stop her.

"Donna-"

"You stay the _hell_ away from me!"

Charlie slipped to the floor, crying. Grace rushed to her side, patting her back soothingly.

"How is this happening?" Charlie sobbed. "These this aren't supposed to be real!"

"I wish I could tell you differently." Grace said softly. "But it's almost all over, ok kid, we've almost got her."

Grace stood up, and reached out a hand to Charlie. She took it and Grace helped her up.

"Do you wanna ditch, something tells me the school won't want me working here for much longer."

Charlie shook her head.

"No, no." She said, whipping the tears with her sleeve. "Got to continue like normal."

"Ok kid, I'm gonna stick around and take you home when you're done, ok?"

Charlie nodded and mumbled her thanks. Grace gave one final pat on the back before walking Charlie to physics class. After that, Grace just kind of hung around, keeping look out for anything unusual. Not even ten minutes in, she heard someone streaking bloody murder down the hall. Instinct kick in and Grace dashed towards the screams, mentally cursing for not having any sort of weaponry on her.

The cries were coming from the physics room. Charlie was freaking out scrambling around the room as if she was trying to get away from something. The teacher grabs Charlie by the arms, trying to calm her down, but only seemed to make her more hysteric. Grace intervened, bursting into the room and shoving the teacher out of the way.

"Charlie, Charlie?" Grace called as Charlie dug her eye into her palms. "Is it her? Can you see her?"

"Yes!" Charlie sobbed.

"Ms. Tyler, I can handle my student just fine by myself, thank you!" The teacher tried to interfere, but Grace pulled Charlie away from him, wrapping one arm around her, and covering Charlie's eye with the other.

"Handle my ass! Step aside and let me deal with this."

Before anyone else had a chance to respond, Grace rushed Charlie out of the room, her hands covering Charlie's weepy eyes. They didn't stop until they came to the school's parking lot. There they covered up Charlie's eyes and got into her car.

"Hang on, kid," Grace warned, gripping onto the steering wheel. Then she started the car and reverse sharply onto the pavement. Charlie gave a surprised yelp. Soon they were out of the parking lot and speeding down the road. Grace used her free hand to dig out her cell phone from her bag. She dialled Sam's number.

"Hello?" Sam's voice came from the other line.

"Mary's after Charlie. Please tell me you found a way to kill her."

"Are you on the phone!?" Charlie asked, holding onto her seat for dear life.

"Charlie, I'm trying to save your life." Grace said, turning away from her phone.

"Well you're not doing a very good job!" Charlie argued back. Grace rolled her eyes, pressing the phone back to her ear.

"Tell me you found something."

"Yeah we did." Sam replied. "We tracked down the mirror she was killed in front of, we think if we destroy it it'll kill her."

"You think!?" Grace asked, before shaking her head. "Ok fine, that's better then."

"Hang up the phone!" Charlie yelled, not knowing what's going on around her.

"Fine, Sam get your ass back here ASAP."

And with that Grace hung up the phone and tossed it back in her bag. Once they made it back to the motel in one piece, Grace guided Clare to their room, then sat her down on the bed.

"Don't take that off yet." Grace warned as Charlie movie her hand up to remove the blindfold. Grace turned to examine the room, looking for anything that gave a reflection. When all the curtains were drawn, all the mirror covered, and basically everything with a refection was removed, Grace allowed Charlie to take off her blindfold. Charlie's puffy eyes were blatant even in the dark. Grace sighed, running her hand through her hair, before sitting down on the bed next to Charlie.

"You know you're gonna have to tell me what happened." Grace said softly, trying to deal with the topic carefully. Charlie sniffed and nodded.

"I had this boyfriend." Charlie started off "I loved him. But he kind of scared me too, you know?"

"I think I get the idea." Grace admitted, her father coming to mind.

"One night, at his house, we got in this fight. Then I broke up with him, and he got upset, and he said he needed me and he loved me, and he said "Charlie, if you walk out that door right now, I'm gonna kill myself." And you know what I said? I said "Go ahead." And I left. How could I say that? How could I leave him like that? I just...I didn't believe him, you know?"

Charlie buried her face in her knees, sobbing heavily again. Grace pulled her against her chest, stroking her hair gently.

"Have you ever told anyone?" She asked softly. Charlie was crying so hard she wasn't able to form any words, so she just shook her head.

"I know this isn't going to make you feel any less guilty," Grace said sympathetically. "But it's not your fault. You can't control other people's thoughts and actions. You didn't make that choice. _He_ did."

* * *

The rain poured down hard against the impala's roof. Grace looked through the droplet covered window of the back seat, pondering on the decisions she's made in the past, and how different life would be if she chose differently. Regrets swirled through her mind, torturing and tormenting her in their individual ways, but all connecting together in one way or another, leading to the biggest regret of them all.

"You know, I've been thinking. It might not be enough to just smash that mirror."

Grace was pulled out of her head, turning her attention to her younger brother.

"Why, what do you mean?" Dean asked.

"Well Mary's hard to pin down, right? I mean she moves around from mirror to mirror so who's to say that she's not just gonna keep hiding in them forever? So maybe we should try to pin her down, you know, summon her to her mirror and then smash it."

"Will that work?" Grace inquired, pulling herself into the conversation.

"I have no idea." Sam admitted. "But it's worth a go."

"'worth a go?' Sam, this is people's lives we're talking about."

"Besides," Dean intervened. "She not going to come after us,"

"Speak for yourself." Sam said gravely.

"Sam don't." Dean warned.

"I'll summon her." Sam decided. "She'll come after me."

"You know what, that's it." Dean huffed, pulling the car over.

"This is about Jessica, isn't it?"

" _Dean_ , this isn't the time to talk about this." Grace stressed through grit teeth.

"No, you said it yourself, _this has got to stop!_ " Dean stressed before turning back to Sam "You think that's your dirty little secret that you killed her somehow? Sam, this has got to stop, man. I mean, the nightmares and calling her name out in the middle of the night—it's going to _kill_ you! Now listen to me—It wasn't your fault. If you wanna blame something, then blame the thing that killed her. Or hell, why don't you take a swing at me? I mean I'm the one that dragged you away from her in the first place."

"I don't blame you." Sam pressed.

"Well you shouldn't blame yourself," Dean said gruffly "because there's nothing you could've done"

"I could've warned her."

"How?" Grace asked, knitting her eyebrows together. "There was no way of knowing it would happen."

"Besides, all of this isn't a secret," I mean we know all about it. It's not gonna work with Mary anyway."

"No you don't." Sam stated.

"I don't what?"

"You don't know all about it" Sam continued "I haven't told you everything."

"What are you talking about?" Dean scoffed.

"Well it wouldn't really be a secret if I told you, would it?"

Dean gave him a surprised look, before shaking his head furiously.

"No. I don't like it. It's not gonna happen, forget it."

"Then I can do it." Grace pipped up.

"Don't tell me, you have a secret too." Dean jeered.

"We all have our secrets, Dean." Grace responded seriously. "And one of us has to do it, or Charlie is going to die, and so will many other people."

Dean pushed his lips together, knowing that she was right. Even though he wasn't happy about it, he grunted in agreement. Soon they pulled up in front of the small antique shop. It was filled from head to toe in mirrors, meaning there's nowhere to hide when Mary attacked. The three spilt up, trying to find Mary's mirror hidden amongst all the others.

"Maybe they've already sold it." Dean suggested.

"I don't think so." Sam replied, shining his flashlight at a particularly large mirror. Grace compared the mirror to the picture, it looked identical.

"Yep, that's it." Grace sighed, tightening her grip on her golf club. The three Winchesters gave each other unsure glances, before Sam stepped forward and sighed.

"Well, it's now or never."

"Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary." The sibling shared a worried look. Sam clutched his crowbar tight. Grace held her breath, the eight year old girl in her coming out.

"Bloody Mary."

A light from outside poured into the shop, eliminating the area around them. Dean cursed, then volunteered to go check it out, but not before warning the two to be careful. The two waited in position, their weapons tight in their hands. Then Grace felt a breath behind her. She jumped, turning and swinging her club to one of the other mirrors, causing it to smash.

Sam sent Grace a harsh glare.

"Please don't tell me you can see too."

She didn't reply.

"Grace, what did you do?" He said through his teeth.

"Wouldn't be a secret if I told you." Grace snarked, her eye fixed on the mirrors. "To your left!"

Sam smashed the mirror as Mary kept jumping through them. Grace caught a glimpse of her at the corner of her eye and swung at another mirror.

"Grace! We need to get her into _her_ mirror." Sam hissed. Grace nodded, having gotten carried away with the adrenaline. She turned to Mary's mirror.

"Mary! Come out and play!" Grace beckoned, read to strike at the mirror.

Grace suddenly found it difficult to breath. She heard Sam gasp for breath and his's crowbar drop to the floor. She tried to turn to him, but found her eyes glued to the mirror. Her club hit the floor with a loud clank. Her reflection came to life, giving her a nasty sneer.

"You tried to kill him!" it spat at her. A single tear of blood fell from Grace's eyes as she struggled to break free. "You did everything you could to get rid of him. _You made that choice!_ That makes you worse than the monsters you hunt!"

Then suddenly she was released as Dean smashed the mirror to pieces. She gasped for air as she hit the floor. Grace knelt on the floor, coughing, guttering. Then she remembered Sam, she looked up to find Sam collapsed on the floor, unconscious. Dean rushed to his aid first.

"Sam?" Dean called, lightly patting his cheek. "Sammy?"

When Sam did respond, panic started to set in. Grace crawled over to him. He couldn't be dead.

"Sam? Sammy!?" Grace said roughly, slapping his cheeks "I swear to god, don't me lick your face!"

Sam scrunched up a bit, opening his eyes to look at Grace.

"Ew." He responded, blinking the blood out of his eye. "And oh, how many times do I need to tell you guys, its Sam,"

The three chuckled, relived that this was over.

"C'mon, get up." Dean helps his younger sibling up and stretched his arms under their. They began to hobble out of the shop, but just when they thought it was all over, they turn around to see Mary crawl out of her mirror like the thing from the ring. All three of them collapsed to the floor as Mary walked towards them, sharp pains jabbing through their bodies. Grace felt the blood pouring out of her eyes again as her weak form tried to crawl around to find a weapon to use against her. Just then Dean grabbed one of the mirrors and forced it in front of Mary. She starts choking and gargling, before melting into a large puddle of blood. Dean let out a sigh of relief, throwing the mirror aside, causing it to shatter.

"Hey guys."

"Yeah?" They answered in a breathy tone.

"This must me like-600 years of bad luck."

Sam and Grace chuckled weakly.

"As if our lives weren't cursed enough." Grace commended with a feeble grin. She slowly pushed herself up onto her wobbly knees, swaying until she found her balance.

"Can you guys get up?" She asked.

"Just gimmie a sec." Dean grunted, lifting himself off the flood before turning to his brother's aid. Dean slipped his arms around Sam's shoulder, then did the same to Grace.

"Everyone ok?" He asked, checking over them to spot some kind of long term damage.

"Yeah." Sam said breathlessly.

"Just dandy." Grace grinned, giving a weak thumbs up.

"Good," Dean grunted, "Let's get the hell out of here."

And the three hobbled out of the shop, arm in arm.

* * *

They got back to the motel by sunrise to collect Charlie and take her home. She let out a sigh of relief when they parked up in front of her house, thankful that she was going to live another day. She climbed out of the back seat, and stepped on the front of her lawn.

"Thanks," She said turning to Grace, "For everything."

To Grace's surprise, Charlie gave her a quick hug, before proceeding to say goodbye to her brother's. She shook their hands and continued to walk up her lawn.

"Charlie," Sam called, causing her to turn back to him. "Do be so hard on yourself. Sometimes things happen, things we can't control."

Charlie smiles faintly, then turns around to go into the house.

"That's good advice." Dean comments, gently hitting him on the arm. "Maybe you should try to listen to it."

The three Winchesters slipped back into the car and drove off out of the town, probably never to return. Grace rest her head down on the seat and slowly drifted off to the hum of the engine. When she woke up a few hours later, she found that the car was parked in some field. She got out of the car to find her brothers sitting on the car's bonnet, sipping beer and looking up at the stars.

"Pass me a bottle." She mumbled softly. Dean passed over the bottle and its opener. Soon the bitter taste of beer took over her taste buds.

"So, are you gonna tell us what Mary said to you?" Dean asked solemnly.

"Nope." Grace replied, grinning into her bottle. Dean gave her a surprised look.

"You're really not going to tell us?" Dean asked with his eyebrows raised "Miss 'can't keep a secret' is holding back information from her own brothers?"

"Hey, why're you pounding on me?" Grace said with her arms raised in defence. "Sam has a secret too, ask him!"

"Oh trust me I'm not done with him," Dean answered giving Sam a pointed look, "And I'm not done with you either. Don't think I won't find out."

"Well when I want to talk about it, I will." Grace replied, bringing the bottle back to her lips. Then she lowered the bottle and gave a grin.

"But what I do want to talk about is how we just killed on of the most popular urban legends of modern history! Am I scared of bloody Mary? Nope, bloody Mary is scared of me! Winchesters 1, Bloody Mary 0!"

The three siblings continued to laugh and joke, until they fell into a comfortable silence, were they just looked up at the stars, and wondered if there was a world beyond theirs.

* * *

 **Ahh, I finally uploaded! Took me long enough :P**

 **Thank you for reading and leaving such nice comments. If you're interested, or curious, or just plain nosey, feel free to ask me about the fic. In Between the chapters, I was thinking of posting a few Winchester one-shots. So keep a look out for that.**

 **Until next time.**

 **Tammy. xxx**


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